Society of Sinophone Studies The Society of Sinophone Studies (3S) promotes the study of Sinitic-language communities and culture around the world. We seek to provide support for scholars with an interest in Sinophone studies and welcome any regional, disciplinary, and topical expertise. 3S was created on May 4, 2019 following the successful “Sinophone Studies” conference held in April that year at the University of California, Los Angeles. Since the initial conceptualization of Sinophone studies over a decade ago as a field that examines Sinitic-language cultures and communities marked by difference and heterogeneity around the world, scholarly work in the field has become more and more interdisciplinary, involving not only literary and cinema studies, but also history, anthropology, musicology, linguistics, art history, dance, and others. Now we routinely see “Sinophone” as a specific marker with multiple implications that are no longer merely denotative, enabling, on the one hand, marginalized voices, sites, and practices to come into view, and, on the other hand, an expanded conversation with such fields as postcolonial studies, settler colonial studies, immigration studies, ethnic studies, queer studies, and area studies. There have been vibrant debates at the definitional and conceptual level about critical issues and standpoints, such as the pros and cons of the diasporic framework (diaspora as history versus diaspora as value), the difficulty of overcoming Chineseness, the strength and pitfalls of language-determined identities, imperial and anti-imperial politics, racialization and self-determination of minority peoples, place-based cultural practices, the dialectics between roots and routes, and many others, and presently, scholars in disciplines other than literary and cinema studies have begun to join these conversations. The increasingly interdisciplinary nature of Sinophone studies compels us to take stock, at this particular historical conjuncture, of where this inherently interdisciplinary field has been, where it is going, and where it might go in the future. 3S Mission Statement The Society of Sinophone Studies (3S) is an international, nonprofit scholarly society founded on May 4, 2019. Our main goal is to promote the study of Sinitic-language communities and cultures around the world. Through fostering communication across the humanities and social sciences, we encourage the development of new conceptual frameworks and methods that enable, on the one hand, the visibility of marginalized subjects and, on the other, the synergy with fields as diverse as (but not limited to) postcolonial studies, migration studies, ethnic studies, media studies, gender & queer studies, science studies, indigenous studies, and area studies. Membership in 3S is open to anyone with an interest in Sinophone studies and any regional, disciplinary, and topical expertise. 3S Inaugural Governing Board Chair: Howard Chiang, University of California, Davis Vice Chair: E.K. Tan, Stony Brook University Secretary-Treasurer: Rebecca Ehrenwirth, University of Applied Sciences/SDI Munich Program Director: Brian Bernards, University of Southern California Communications Director: Lily Wong, American University 1 Multisensory Dissent and Alliance Building: The Inaugural Biennial Conference of the Society of Sinophone Studies April 22-24, 2021 University of Southern California Dornsife College of Letters, Arts & Sciences Conference Theme & Overview Multisensory Dissent and Alliance Building is the inaugural conference of the Society of Sinophone Studies (3S). The concept for the conference was motivated by increasing authoritarian and ethnic/race-based repression in key Sinophone sites around the world: the holding of democratic elections in Taiwan ROC in the face of PRC social media interference and disinformation campaigns; anti-extradition bill protests in Hong Kong SAR that were met with increasingly hostile state violence; the PRC’s intensified regime of surveillance and internment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang while enacting a new National Security Law for Hong Kong; and the flaring anti-Asian racism, rhetoric, and violence in the United States (under an administration perpetuating anti-immigrant policies and emboldening white supremacy) and the West, as well as anti-African actions taken in Guangzhou, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Responding to these challenges, popular demonstrations against systemic racism and against authoritarianism grew stronger worldwide as they adapted to the “new normal” of engaging a “socially distanced” civil sphere. Recognizing that this rapidly changing reality cannot but influence our academic culture, this conference takes seriously the need to analyze, historicize, and theorize interconnected and creatively adaptive Sinophone expressions of dissent and alliance building across geopolitical boundaries. By mobilizing interarea, interdisciplinary, and cross- methodological perspectives on multisensory modes of expressing dissent and ally-ship across the Sinophone world (including Taiwan, Hong Kong, mainland China, Southeast Asia, North America, Africa, and Europe), our interdisciplinary conference seeks to generate new cross- disciplinary frameworks for understanding, interpreting, and amplifying the broader theoretical, methodological, and relational salience of such multisensory expressions. The conference highlights perspectives that exceed or depart from the reductive discursive frameworks of liberal humanism vs. nationalist/racialist difference (i.e. pan-Chinese or East Asian exceptionalisms) that often dominate the lens through which Sinophone conditions are viewed. It also foregrounds research that includes but also goes beyond audiovisual sensoria to consider haptic, tactile, or kinetic perception (touch, taste, smell, etc.) or different (meta)physical states and activities (pain, disability, hallucination, exercise, dreaming, etc.). Key questions include: How might multisensory approaches to Sinophone conditions evoke novel or unintuitive intimacies or relations that bring other actors/agents into play, such as the transpacific, “other” Asias, the indigenous or minoritarian, or the non-Sinophone? How might a multisensory approach to Sinophone dissent and ally-ship transform Sinophone studies or other disciplinary conventions? The conference features one keynote speech and six panels spread across three days. 2 Multisensory Dissent and Alliance Building: The Inaugural Biennial Conference of the Society of Sinophone Studies Conference Registration • Conference attendance is restricted to members of the Society of Sinophone Studies: to register for your free membership, please visit <https://www.sinophonestudies.org/membership> • This conference will use Zoom. There are two Zoom links for the entire conference, one Zoom Webinar link for the conference keynote on Friday, April 23, and one Zoom Pro link for all other sessions: ➢ Keynote (register to receive Webinar link): <https://usc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_wlMzejilQoWoRyOSQ106hQ> ➢ Zoom Pro Link for all sessions except keynote: <https://usc.zoom.us/j/99729974245> Conference Guidelines • Audio/Video for Panelists & Attendees: ➢ Panelists should mute their microphones when not presenting. ➢ During the introduction, discussant, and audience Q&A portion of each panel, it is preferred that all panelists (including the discussant) turn their video camera on as long as it is safe to do so. Only presenters may share screen. ➢ Attendees should keep their microphones muted throughout the conference unless asking questions during the Q&A portion. ➢ Those who violate these guidelines, or who are generally disruptive (via the chat function or otherwise), will be removed from the conference and not readmitted. • Presentation & Q&A Format: ➢ Each panel should include 20-25 minutes of Q&A. ➢ An assigned moderator (not the discussant) will keep time for the panel and handle comments and questions. Attendees may send questions/comments directly to the moderator via the type chat function during and after the presentations. Attendees may also use the raise hand function to ask questions. ➢ Panelists should keep their presentations between 12-15 minutes. Moderators will ensure that presentations do not exceed 15 minutes. The moderator will chime a (hopefully unintrusive) “doorbell” as a courtesy. Presenters are encouraged to set a 15-minute timer while presenting. ➢ Discussants will have 5-7 minutes to raise questions for the panel after the presentations finish. • Recording: ➢ Video recording of any session is prohibited. The conference will not be recorded, so please make every effort to attend the livestream. With participants from multiple continents, the organizers have made every effort to schedule conference activities at a reasonable hour for panel participants but realize that not every event will be scheduled at an ideal local time for all attendees. 3 Multisensory Dissent and Alliance Building: The Inaugural Biennial Conference of the Society of Sinophone Studies Inaugural Keynote Shu-mei Shih, “Major and Minor Commons in Empire” Friday, April 23, 13:00-14:30 PDT (16:00-17:30 EDT; Sat, Apr 24, 04:00-05:30 HKT) Register to receive Webinar link: <https://usc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_wlMzejilQoWoRyOSQ106hQ> Keynote Abstract This lecture will address how in the global condition of empire, major commons that maintain various discursive regimes are as much communities of affect as are minor commons. “National humiliation” is one such Chinese discourse that has